New Science and Technology Plan for Ethnic Minorities Raises Questions About Ethnic Minority Rights

The Chinese central government has issued direction on advancing science and technology development among ethnic minorities and in ethnic minority areas, combining potentially beneficial provisions with those that may clash with the protection of ethnic minority rights. The Opinion Concerning the Increased Strengthening of Science and Technology Work Among Ethnic Minorities and Ethnic Minority Regions (Opinion)--issued November 3 by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, and the China Association for Science and Technology--builds off of two national programs on science and technology as well as China's first "five-year" program devoted specifically to ethnic minorities and ethnic minority areas. The Opinion describes the promotion of science and technology development as an extension of Communist Party and government policy toward ethnic minorities and links it to strengthening "ethnic unity," the "unity of the motherland," and security in China's border areas. Noting that development of science and technology work has been "delayed" among ethnic minorities and in ethnic minority areas, the Opinion designates the first 20 years of the 21st century to accelerate development. Article 6 of the Opinion describes five broad goals for the science and technology work:

• Strengthening training of ethnic minority science and technology personnel and personnel in ethnic minority areas;
• Improving science and technology infrastructure and services;
• Spreading scientific knowledge;
• Increasing science and technology investment, including funds for materials in ethnic minority languages; and
• Strengthening the science and technology work force and building a long-term mechanism for science and technology work.

Some provisions have potential to bring benefit to ethnic minority communities, though their overall impact remains unclear amid China's past failures to implement development projects that adequately protect ethnic minority rights. Article 8 calls for greater research on diseases occurring in ethnic minority areas and among ethnic minorities, as well as strengthening disease prevention and increasing support for the development of ethnic minority medicine. It does not specify steps for ensuring ethnic minority communities maintain oversight and gain benefit from the development of ethnic minority medicine. Article 11 promotes multi-lingual materials to popularize science and follows earlier efforts to provide multi-lingual materials on health issues. Outside the area of materials to promote government development and health campaigns, however, the government has taken steps in some regions to curb the use of ethnic minority languages, calling into question the government's commitment in this area. (See, for example, past Congressional-Executive Commission on China analyses (1, 2, 3) for more information.) Article 13 details the Opinion's aim of training ethnic minority personnel, including through vocational training, but as noted in the CECC 2008 Annual Report, some areas have taken steps to reduce higher education in ethnic minority languages, placing linguistic assimilation pressures on ethnic minorities and undercutting legal protections for the use of ethnic minority languages. In addition, while article 14's call for infrastructure and personnel support from the interior of China has potential to bring benefit, such measures may also continue longstanding government policies to promote migration to ethnic minority areas, resulting in broad demographic changes and assimilation pressures. Finally, it is unclear if efforts to promote "scientific thought" and to raise the "scientific cultural quality" of ethnic minorities and residents of ethnic minority areas, as called for in article 10, will respect ethnic minority beliefs and traditions.

As noted in the CECC 2007 and 2008 Annual Reports, the central government has increased support for development projects in ethnic minority regions, with mixed results. Aid projects, including the Great Western Development program launched in 2000, have increased migration, strained local resources, and furthered uneven allocation of resources that favors Han Chinese. Given this track record, coupled with the Chinese government's failure to fully implement broader protections for ethnic minority rights and solicit ethnic minority input for development projects, it remains unclear whether the new Opinion will result in improvements for ethnic minorities' livelihoods and will safeguard ethnic minority rights.

For more information, see Section II--Ethnic Minority Rights, Section IV--Xinjiang, and Section V--Tibet, in the CECC 2008 Annual Report, as well as the Special Focus on ethnic minorities in the 2005 Annual Report.